John D. Rateliff
John D. Rateliff is an author of role-playing games and an independent scholar, specializing on the Inklings and in particular Tolkien studies (study of the works of J. R. R. Tolkien). Early life and education Rateliff relocated to Wisconsin in 1981 in order to study original Tolkien manuscripts at Marquette University. Rateliff is an expert in Tolkien studies, and he earned a PhD in 20th-century British literature from Marquette University. Career John D. Rateliff is an independent scholar who has helped organize several major Tolkien conferences. He has contributed essays to Christopher Tolkien's festschrift (Tolkien's Legendarium) and a volume marking the fiftieth anniversary of The Lord of the Rings, and has published The History of The Hobbit (HarperCollins, 2007), an edition of the original manuscript draft of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit with extensive commentary. Having written his dissertation on Lord Dunsany, he likes to describe his degree as "a Ph.D. in fantasy." Rateliff worked for TSR, Inc., Wizards of the Coast, and Hasbro for a number of years, contributing to a large number of products of the Dungeons and Dragons line. In addition he worked as freelancer for Decipher Inc., Green Ronin, White Wolf, Guardians of Order, and Chaosium on a number of projects . According to his guest speaking session at Merpcon IV in 2008, he stated that he also worked on an internal TSR project to create a Tolkien-based role-playing game, that did not complete release to the public. Rateliff was the co-editor of the third edition D&D Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide (the original d20 System game rules), and has worked on such titles as Mark of Amber, Night Below, Return to the Tomb of Horrors, the Eberron core rulebook, and Decipher's Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game. He is the author of the adventures Standing Stone and Return to the Keep on the Borderlands, as well as co-editor of (and contributor to) d20 Cthulhu. Publications *Egypt (Children of the World) (co-author) (February 1992) Roleplaying *Player's Survival Kit/Book, Adventurer's Log, and Cards (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition) ( - March 1995) *Reverse Dungeon (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons/AD&D) (May 1, 2000) *Hero Builder's Guidebook - Dungeons & Dragons (co-author) (2000) *The Standing Stone: An Adventure for 7th-Level Characters (Dungeons & Dragons Adventure) (April 1, 2001) *Co-author Decipher The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game (2002) *EverQuest Player's Handbook (2002) *Fushigi Yûgi: Ultimate Fan Guide #1 (September 30, 2002) Tolkien studies *"Early Versions of Farmer Giles of Ham" in Leaves from the Tree: J. R. R. Tolkien's Shorter Fiction, The Tolkien Society (1991) *"Rhetorical Strategies in Charles William's Prose Play." in The Rhetoric of Vision: Essays on Charles Williams edited by Charles A. Huttar and Peter J. Schakel (1996) *"The Lost Road, The Dark Tower, and The Notion Club Papers: Tolkien and Lewis's Time Travel Triad." in Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on The History of Middle-earth edited by Verlyn Flieger and Carl F. Hostetter (2000) *''The History of The Hobbit'' (2007) References External links *Sacnoth's Scriptorium - John D. Rateliff's Official Website * * *Tolkien Gateway Interview of John D. Rateliff *Audio interview with John D. Rateliff. National Review. * Category:Dungeons & Dragons game designers Category:Independent scholars Category:Living people Category:Marquette University alumni Category:Tolkien Society members Category:Year of birth missing (living people)